Africa-Press – Seychelles. World Suicide Prevention Day is a global awareness event observed on September 10 every year for the last two decades, commemorating the awareness of suicide prevention and celebrating the counteractions made to abolish it. September is usually a month to remember all the dear ones who tragically chose to end their lives and the theme for this year is ‘Creating hope through action’.
Creating hope through action
The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that the theme serves as a powerful call to action and reminder that there is an alternative to suicide and that through our actions, we can encourage hope and strengthen prevention.
By creating hope through action, we can signal to people experiencing suicidal thoughts that there is hope and that we care and want to support them. It also suggests that our actions, no matter how big or small, may provide hope to those who are struggling.
Lastly, it serves as a reminder that suicide prevention is a public health priority and urgent action is required to make sure suicide mortality rates are reduced. WHO will continue to work with its partners to support countries to take concrete measures in this direction.
The theme also aims to reduce the stigma around suicide and create a culture where people in need can easily seek help.
2022 saw an increase in suicides in Seychelles
Suicide is a major health problem and the global suicide mortality rate in 2018 amounted to 1.4 per cent of all deaths worldwide (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2018).
According to statistics from the Seychelles police, the incidents of suicide were alarmingly higher in 2022 as compared to previous years. Nine suicides were recorded throughout the year 2022, with the cause of death being hanging in all nine cases. As has been the case for the past five years, more males have ended their lives than females, with five males this year, as compared to four females.
In 2021, the police recorded a total of five suicides, four males and one female, with two incidents of pill overdoses, and three hangings. In 2020, three suicides were recorded throughout the year, two of whom died by hanging themselves, while the other jumped in front of a bus.
The two years prior to 2020 also saw a high number of suicides, with four hangings and one person committing suicide by poisoning in each of the two years. All six suicides committed in 2018 were by males, one of whom overdosed on pills, while in 2019 four males claimed their own lives, in addition to one female.
Statistics around the world
An estimated 703,000 people die by suicide worldwide each year.
Over one in every 100 deaths in 2019 were the result of suicide. The global suicide rate is over twice as high among men than women. Over half (58%) of all deaths by suicide occur before the age of 50 years old.
Seychelles NATION spoke to Selvi, one of the activists in the community who every year keeps raising awareness on this subject.
“In the interest of the community at large, I felt that it was time to ring the bell for a wake-up call and to talk about something that I feel very strongly about. September 10 is observed as World Suicide Prevention Day. To prevent these tragedies on a global scale, one can play a massive role by initiating awareness and conversation, and educating others about the underlying causes and warning signs,” noted Selvi.
The activist, who was also a teacher, mentioned that some of the social problems like bullying, teenage pregnancy, mental and physical health issues, alcohol and substance addiction, domestic violence, suicide and many more have an underlying cause of psychological issues and personality problems. Keeping in mind that she is not a psychologist but a whistle-blower, sharing her observations.
Coercive control is when a person with whom you are personally connected repeatedly behaves in a way which makes you feel controlled, dependent, isolated or scared. Coercive control can involve a range of criminal offences including verbal abuse, assault, rape, threats to kill, burglary and criminal damage. In domestic violence cases, victims are subjected to emotional turmoil without any obvious evidence of bruises or bleeding injuries to prove the abuse. In some countries, ‘coercive control’ is now a criminal offence and punishable by law.
Narcissistic abuse is a kind of excessively controlling behaviour which involves emotional, physical, financial and sexual abuse. Narcissistic abuse which also has a role in domestic violence, is not acknowledged or understood by the general public. These kinds of abusers are adult bullies who appear to be street angels but home devils behind closed doors.
The abusers use various tactics designed to abuse the victim emotionally by love-bombing, belittling, blame-shifting, guilt-tripping, gaslighting and through smear campaigns with false accusations, they erase the true identity of the victim and manipulate the people around them. Quite often the abuser uses verbal threats mixed with physical violence at times to control their victims to comply with their demands.
Victims can be of both genders, but mostly women and children are harassed, bullied, and stalked to such extremes that victims cannot live a normal life which in turn can affect our society. The abuse continues for years and sometimes decades unidentified and the victim is subjected to live a miserable life every day or in worst cases, the victim is manipulated and isolated without anyone to support and ends up committing suicide. Abuse victims of both genders and children, the future generation, need to be protected.
“I was questioning myself, ‘How far our legal system is up to date in dealing with matters involving coercive control and narcissistic abuse?” I remembered this quote: ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’. I also want to raise awareness of the law-making bodies and law-enforcing authorities with the hope of creating strict laws to deal with coercive control and narcissistic abuse, in order to protect women and children and promote the mental health and emotional well-being of society and the country,” she concluded.
We all know someone or a friend who has lost someone dear through suicide. Sometimes there are warnings and sometimes there are none. If we pay more attention towards others and if we become less judgmental, maybe we can get some of them to reconsider what they are feeling, which could create the first steps to change.
If you are feeling alone, you can call on this helpline: 2722293 at the Quality of Life Division Helpline – Ministry of Family, Youth and Sport which is dedicated to providing 24/7.
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